This How the Arrival of a Pro-‘Israel’ Far-Right to the Presidency of Argentine Affects the Palestinian Cause

The liberal candidate belonging to the far-right in Argentina, Javier Milei, 52, constituted a major surprise in the primaries in Argentina, which were held last week, imposing himself as a major candidate to lead the country in the elections scheduled after two months.

Milei, who declared his support for “Israel,” is known for his admiration for the two former presidents, the American Donald Trump and the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, took advantage of Argentine discontent with the country’s economic faltering to snatch first place in the primaries and turn him into a main challenger to other presidential candidates in the fall.

In his program, Milei did not delay in affirming his intention to eliminate the central bank and to dollarize the Argentine economy, to ban abortion, liberalize the sale of arms, open the market to the trade in human organs, as well as his refusal to impose any additional taxes.

On the other hand, the reactions of the financial markets did not take long to achieve Milei’s victory, as Argentine treasury bonds fell by 12% at the opening of the markets last week, and most analysts expected that the peso would decline significantly against the dollar.

 

Political Tsunami

Argentine voters will choose between far-right economist Javier Milei, center-left coalition candidate Patricia Bullrich, and economy minister Sergio Massa in the upcoming October 22 presidential election, according to preliminary results from the August 13 primary ballot.

23 candidates had competed for the Argentine presidency, 6 of whom moved to the October 22 elections. They are Milei, who won 32.5% of the vote; Bullrich, who got 27.5%; and Massa, who got 25.5%. The total of the remaining 20 candidates did not exceed 14%.

Local Argentine media described the results as a political tsunami.

In the upcoming elections, the candidate can win the presidency from the first round if he gets 45% of the vote or even if he gets 40%, provided that he is ahead of his second competitor by more than 10%.

In the event that this does not happen, the top two candidates in the first round will go through a second round on November 19.

With about 35.4 million eligible Argentine voters, the recent primary ballot is a strong indicator of who could win the general election, especially if one of the candidates is out of the blue. The personal factor is relatively more important in Argentina than electoral programs.

Milei gained his strength due to several factors, most notably the withdrawal of unpopular President Alberto Fernandez from running for a second term, high inflation, increased poverty rates, and the decline in the value of the official currency, the peso.

Annual inflation in Argentina is at 113%, its highest in more than 30 years. It has pushed 40% of the population into poverty as soaring prices outstrip wages.

The government, which suffers from declining foreign reserves, also imposed strict restrictions on the currency and raised the import tax to obtain more dollars. Dissatisfaction with the current left-wing government opened the door for other candidates, including Javier Milei.

Experts said that support for Milei is not entirely ideologically driven but rather expresses disenchantment with politics as a whole.

“They are not right-wing votes. They are votes that are free of politics,” Carlos Fara, a political analyst in Buenos Aires, said earlier this week.

Valeria Brusco, a political scientist who studies Milei, said the economic crisis has led to enormous frustration amongst voters in Argentina.

On the black market, the hard currency, or what is known as the blue dollar, which is most available to residents and merchants, was traded at about 680 pesos per dollar.

The crisis escalated last week when the central bank raised interest rates to 118% from 97%, the third such increase in five months, to halt a sell-off in government bonds and the Argentine peso, which hit a record low against the dollar.

The Argentine Central Bank confirmed that the move will allow the absorption of exchange rate expectations and reduce the repercussions on prices to a minimum.

Inflation forced officials to devalue the peso by 18% last week, which some economists expect to fuel inflation further, possibly sending it to 150%.

Figures from the Argentine Central Bank on August 14 showed the peso trading at 365.50 to the dollar, compared to 298.50 on August 11. This is the largest depreciation of the official exchange rate in one day since December 2015.

Argentine stores also saw prices jump 20% overnight after the election.

Argentina is the third-largest economic power in Latin America, and it has great potential in terms of agriculture and raw materials as it is considered one of the world’s largest exporters of soybeans, corn, and beef, but it has been witnessing an economic crisis for a quarter of a century, which was exacerbated by the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

 

Far-right Presidential Candidate

Milei is not considered unknown in the political arena, which he reached two years ago, in an exciting way, after obtaining the seat of a parliamentarian for the capital, Buenos Aires,

He was also known for his critical television appearances of former presidents Cristina Kirchner, Mauricio Macri, and Alberto Fernandez.

Milei had a degree in economics from the Argentine University of Belgrano and a master’s degree in the same field.

He has also worked for consulting firms, banks, and economic policy groups, according to the World Economic Forum website.

In 2012, Milei established the Fundacion Acordar, an institution that discusses economic studies, seeking, as he described it, to save Argentina from its crises.

He is also a fan of the policies of the 14th president of the U.S. Federal Bank, between 2006 and 2014, Ben Bernanke, who witnessed a stifling financial crisis in Washington.

Milei defines himself as an anarcho-capitalist, referring to the current that advocates a model of capitalism without state regulation.

In Milei’s vision, Argentina should officially adopt the U.S. dollar to stamp out inflation because the peso is melting like snow in the Sahara desert.

He stressed that the movement toward dollarization will take place over a period of 18 months, but after that, wages will soar.

If he wins on October 22, and Milei carries out his pledge, Argentina will become the largest dollarized economy in the world.

Three countries in Latin America—Panama, Ecuador, and El Salvador—have already transitioned to outright dollarization. While results were mixed, with Panama performing by far the best, dollarization itself worked in all three regimes.

It is noteworthy that Milei believes in extremist views, such as not believing in the existence of climate change or global warming, as he rejects the right to abortion even if the victim was raped, supports freedom to bear arms, and believes in the existence of a global Marxist cultural conspiracy.

To impose his vision, he surprised the residents of the capital by winning a parliamentary seat in 2021, under the slogan: “I did not come to lead the sheep, but rather to awaken the lions.” He also offered his monthly salary as a deputy to the citizens, arguing that it was the people’s money and should be returned to him.

Milei, an admirer of the former presidents of the U.S. and Brazil, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, ran in the primary ballot as a single candidate for his party, La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances), especially targeting young people, who appear to be the most visible group in his electoral rallies.

Some of his supporters wear “Make Argentina Great Again” hats while others fly the yellow Gadsden flag, a flag which features a rattlesnake with the slogan, “Don’t tread on me,” which was made popular among the far-right in the United States.

Although neo-Nazi supporters continued to flock to his political rallies in abundance, and some of them attended in neo-Nazi costumes, Milei disowned them.

 

Pro-‘Israel’

Javier Milei has recently begun to attract headlines in “Israel” due to his declared closeness to “Israel” and Judaism in general, as is the case of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

In an interview with the local channel La Nacion on the night of August 14, Javier Milei said that if he becomes president of Argentina, the U.S. and “Israel” will be his closest allies.

Milei had made it clear months ago that his first steps as president would be to reverse decades of Argentine foreign policy, which has been balanced in its dealings with the Palestinian–Israeli conflict over the past years.

He indicated that his first measure in international politics would be to move the Argentine embassy in “Israel” from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem (al-Quds), a step that only 4 countries have taken so far.

If he wins, Milei will follow in the footsteps of another Latin country, Paraguay. The Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced last week that Paraguay will move its embassy to Jerusalem by the end of the year.

There is no doubt that Milei’s fulfillment of his promise will represent a provocative step for the Palestinians and may threaten his country’s relationship with the rest of the Arab and Muslim world.

In addition to moving the country’s embassy to Jerusalem, Milei announced during his campaign that his first foreign visit as president would be to “Israel,” with the aim of deepening his studies of the Torah, Talmud, and other Jewish scriptures.

Israeli media described Milei’s leadership style as similar to the style of the Prophet Moses, which is of great importance in the faiths of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

On its part, Argentine Jewish Radio Jai revealed that Milei regularly studies Torah texts with Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish of ACILBA, the Moroccan Jewish community in Argentina,

He even made a religious visit to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave site in Queens, New York.

Milei’s statements about his association with the Jewish religion prompted the newspaper El Pais to ask: Is Milei considering changing his religion, given that he was born a Catholic?

Milei stated during an interview with the same Spanish newspaper that he is considering converting to Judaism, but he made it clear that practicing this faith may be difficult while running the country, in the event that he is elected president.

He also told the newspaper: “If I were president and Saturday came, what would I do? Would I separate from the country from Friday evening until the end of Saturday? There are some issues that make this religion incompatible with governance.”

Milei added, “The rabbi who directs my studies says that I should read the Torah from the point of view of economic analyses.”

Observers believe that even if Milei came to power in Argentina, he would not be able to obtain a majority in Congress, which would hinder his far-right political program and force him to moderate politically in office.

In a separate context, BBC Radio Portuguese reported that the personal life of Milei is the subject of much speculation, especially about his relationship with his sister Karina, and his dogs, whom he calls my four-legged sons, whom he thanked in his victory speech.

It is worth noting that Milei’s sister is running his election campaign almost completely, as he announced himself in May 2023, saying: “If I became president, I think my sister would play the role of first lady,” noting that he is not married yet.